OSI investigation garners excellence award Published Dec. 19, 2003 By 2nd Lt. Martha L. Petersante Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- Detachment 102 of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations here has been awarded the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency Investigative Excellence Award. The detachment won the award for its work on the case of the United States vs. Arguin. Investigators worked with U.S. General Services Administration officials to build a case against Paul Arguin and Victor Garber, said 2nd Lt. Devin Robinson, of AFOSI’s public affairs. “Arguin and Garber were convicted of abusing their relationship with the Air Force by embezzling more than $10 million,” he said.“(More than) 1,000 cases were eligible for this award,” said Special Agent Michael Janosov, who is in charge of Det. 102. “From those, only 200 cases were submitted, and Detachment 102 was the winner.”Council members conduct regular interagency audits along with inspections and investigations to deal with governmentwide issues of fraud, waste and abuse. Agents “worked tirelessly to bring the defendants to justice and recover what restitution was available,” said James Henderson, assistant inspector general for GSA investigations.“As a result of Detachment 102’s work, the funds were recovered and both defendants were sentenced to time in jail in addition to restitution of more than $6 million each,” he said.Agents became involved with the case in October 1999, after an anonymous tip came into the Department of Defense’s fraud, waste and abuse hot line, Janosov said. The detachment formed a team with other agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the GSA. The call alleged that there were base contractors engaging in a kickback scheme and false billing of the government, he said. Investigators used a confidential informant who corroborated the allegations. Agents from Det. 102 analyzed documents from multiple sources and conducted interviews with more than 50 witnesses, Henderson said. It took one year to “break the conspiracy by piecing together an immense jigsaw puzzle of hard evidence,” Janosov said. This was an expeditious investigation because, “complex fraud investigations take years to run, sometimes up to seven or more years,” he said.